Exploring Methodist Genealogy Resources

I've got a great-uncle, great-grandfather and a great-great-grandfather who were members of the clergy of what is now the United Methodist Church.  Although the church has played an important role in this branch of my family, I haven't done much to explore the genealogical records available before now.  This blog post inspired me to see what the church had to offer and today I put my research request in:

Above is a partial screen shot of my request.  I chose my great-great-grandfather because, as you can see, I don't know much about the missionary work that he did.  Luckily, he attended a lot of church conferences (every one between his ordination around 1864 and move to Europe to do missionary work around 1874) so I have a pretty good timeline of where he was when he was state side (he returned to the US, and Indiana, around 1879).  Another reason I chose my 2nd great-grandfather?  Because I'm writing a book about him for his granddaughter, my grandmother, and the chapter about his life in the 1870s is pretty bare.

At $30 per hour the look-up service isn't cheap and it is also the reason why I'm waiting awhile before I put in a research request on my great-grandfather (the son of John Berger above).  But I'm curious to see what they have on John, and in a mere 8-12 weeks I'll find out.

If you also happen to have Methodist ministers from Indiana in your family tree, be sure to check out DePauw University's Archives.  That website was my introduction to Methodist Church records and all this time later, still one of my favorite resources on the subject.